1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic-component ("EC") mounting system which mounts an EC on a printed circuit board ("PCB"), a method of mounting an EC on a PCB, and a PCB supporting and positioning apparatus, and in particular to at least one of the art of simplifying the construction of the EC mounting system and the art of improving the efficiency of mounting of ECs.
2. Related Art Statement
Many EC mounting systems include an EC supplying apparatus, an EC mounting apparatus, and a PCB supporting apparatus. The EC mounting apparatus takes an EC from the EC supplying apparatus, conveys the EC to a position above an EC-fix place on a PCB, and mounts the EC at the EC-fix place on the PCB. For example, the EC mounting apparatus includes a movable member which is movable in two directions normal to each other in a horizontal plane (hereinafter, referred to as the "X" direction and the "Y" direction); and a component mounting head which is provided on the movable member such that the mounting head is movable in a vertical direction (hereinafter, referred to as the "Z" direction). The component mounting head which is movable in the X, Y, and Z directions takes an EC from a component-supply portion of the EC supplying apparatus and mounts the EC on the EC-fix place on the PCB supported by the PCB supporting apparatus.
Conventionally, the EC supplying apparatus, the EC mounting apparatus, and the EC supporting apparatus are provided on a common bed, such that those apparatuses are immovable relative to one another on the common bed. Only respective movable members of those apparatuses, such as the movable member and the component mounting head of the EC mounting apparatus, are moved to mount an EC on a PCB.
However, many problems arise from the above-identified facts that the EC supplying apparatus, the EC mounting apparatus, and the EC supporting apparatus are fixed on the common bed and are not movable relative to one another. For example, since the relative position between the EC supplying apparatus and the EC supporting apparatus cannot be changed, ECs cannot be mounted at different EC-fix places on different sorts of PCBs, respectively, by the component mounting head unless the mounting head can be moved in the X and Y directions to various positions corresponding to those different EC-fix places, respectively. To this end, a moving device which moves the component mounting head in one of the X and Y directions must be provided on the movable member which is movable in the other of the X and Y directions. This moving device suffers from complicated construction and increased weight and accordingly cannot be moved at high speed. This leads to lowering the efficiency of mounting of ECs. In addition, the distance between the component-supply portion of the EC supplying apparatus and each EC-fix place may increase, which needs a longer time to mount an EC at said each EC-fix place.